NEWTOWN -- The hands of volunteers who traveled from different corners of the country untied bags and opened boxes of donations with caution Friday in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

A yellow Labrador retriever, part of the state police bomb squad, sniffed donations by the truck-full, just in case.

The outpouring of support continues to overwhelm Sandy Hook two weeks after a gunman took the lives of 20 students, six school staff members, as well as his mother.

Advertisement

Chris Kelsey, Newtown's tax assessor turned organizer of the tsunami of donations, stood in a warehouse on Simm Lane that was housing the thousands upon thousands of objects sent to the town.

Items were sorted into boxes overflowing with toys. Some volunteers carried away teddy bears by the shopping cart, while others continued to rip open the boxes of new donations and sort them.

Kelsey said they received gifts from every state in the nation, volunteers from different parts of the country -- and even well wishes and goods from other countries.

Though he understands the sentiment and that people want to help, he said the gift donations need to stop.

He suggested instead that if people want to help, they should patronize local businesses that have already helped the community, or purchase gift cards from those local businesses and restaurants to support the volunteers.

"No more teddy bears," he said.

Kelsey said that as the tax assessor he knew a good location to house the donations and was somehow caught up in it all.

"It is amazing," he said, taking a glance at the pyramids around him. "I think it makes people feel better when they try to help."

Asked if the dogs sniffing packages was creating a bottleneck, he said they probably were, and shrugged.

"They're doing what they have to do," he said.

Mike Cummings, a resident of Sandy Hook for 23 years, was unloading more than a dozen children's bikes with his son Danny, 16. He said it was "amazing" that people who had never heard of his tiny town prior to Dec. 14 were sending gifts from around the world.

"It's overwhelming how much people have sent, but we're going to need the help later, too," he said.

For those who wish to donate now, he suggested they instead make a donation in honor of a victim of the shooting, and give to their own town or local charity.

By Friday afternoon, Lonnie the yellow lab had spent a full day sniffing boxes for bombs, and was relaxing in her handler's car.

State police Lt. J. Paul Vance said there are state police canine teams inspecting the large containers and large volumes of packages, but said it is "normal protocol; we do it all the time."

Dennis Stratford, who is in charge of maintenance for the town's Board of Education, said there were some "inappropriate" things sent to victims.

Though he didn't wish to elaborate, Stratford said he had heard from a family that received mail that was upsetting, and suggested families of victims have someone else screen their mail so they don't come into contact with such messages.

Among the more heartwarming gifts, Stratford said the town had received thousands of letters, cards, hand-made drawings from young children, gifts and plentiful amounts of teddy bears. Some boxes were decorated with handprints, signed by students from far-away towns or featured notes like "Fragile: Prayers enclosed."

Stratford has a son who turned 6 on Friday. The boy attended kindergarten at Sandy Hook Elementary School; his teacher was shot in the foot.

"The first few days, I was just the hugger," Stratford said before loading another pallet of mail to be sorted.

Other custodians from the district sorting the mail assisted Stratford. He said that the cards started piling in the day after the shooting, and trucks have been dropping off mail ever since. He said there used to be about five truck deliveries each day of mail, and they are now down to two or three.

"I don't know how people got the address so quickly or how it all came about, but it's here. And we'll keep processing it while it comes," he said.